Our potentially new Defense Secretary
kenny olav
Posts: 3,319
I did some quick research on Robert Gates and discovered he's a typical Bush appointee.
He served as Director of the CIA under his father's presidency, to top off a 26 year career in the CIA.
In the tradition of other Dubya appointees before him (namely Elliott Abrams, Otto Reich, John Negroponte and John Poindexter) Gates was implicated for involvement in the Iran Contra Affair, during which he was our esteemed Deputy Director of the CIA. But of course, like the rest of them, he never got convicted of anything.
Anyone else got some info on him?
He served as Director of the CIA under his father's presidency, to top off a 26 year career in the CIA.
In the tradition of other Dubya appointees before him (namely Elliott Abrams, Otto Reich, John Negroponte and John Poindexter) Gates was implicated for involvement in the Iran Contra Affair, during which he was our esteemed Deputy Director of the CIA. But of course, like the rest of them, he never got convicted of anything.
Anyone else got some info on him?
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
ebay isn't evil people are
The South is Much Obliged
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
He couldn't be any worse.
No competence? You say this now.......
I've heard numberous people like you contend that this administration controls not only the entire world's oil supply, but the world itself.
That's not the definition of incompetence.
"What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact."
Camden 5-28-06
Washington, D.C. 6-22-08
That's because he isn't on the job yet.
Give yourself a week and you'll think of something......
"What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact."
Camden 5-28-06
Washington, D.C. 6-22-08
Well, if he does something that is a bad move, I'm going to say something about it. Fuck sitting back and just watching.
lol You're immediate response of "if he does something that is a bad move" just tells me that you have no intentions of looking for anything good this guy does.
"What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact."
Camden 5-28-06
Washington, D.C. 6-22-08
this is the one that always vexes them: how can W simultaneously be an evil genius and an illiterate hillbilly?
ebay isn't evil people are
The South is Much Obliged
Really? Then you're blind. Fool.
"What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact."
Camden 5-28-06
Washington, D.C. 6-22-08
I know. There are no liberals, anywhere.
"What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact."
Camden 5-28-06
Washington, D.C. 6-22-08
"What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact."
Camden 5-28-06
Washington, D.C. 6-22-08
Gates kept his hands clean during the Iran contra scandal, when many around him fell, and he is a man who understands Intelligence (not necessarily a pre-requisite for becoming CIA Director).
Bush hasn't any choice but to go back to his father's political peers, for help and experience. The neocons are fucked.
Edit: Forgot my main point. He's there, to engineer a withdrawal. In the meantime, Dubya will be told to shut up, and catch up with Rove in the reading competition.
Yay! A Bush joke!
"What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact."
Camden 5-28-06
Washington, D.C. 6-22-08
...
And the bottom line... Rumsfeld made poor decisions and failed to take responsibility for them. That whole, "You go to war with the army you have" bullshit really pissed me off. If you are willing to send young men and women into battle, you must provide them with the best equipment to insure their safety and limit their risks... above all costs.
I'm not willing or able to assess Gates because I have yet to see how he performs. I am hoping that he will refuse to follow Bush Jr's failed plan of Staying the Course and chart a new direction to get our guys home and leave the responsibility on the fucking Iraqis... who seem to be okay with having our guys do all the heavy lifting.
Hail, Hail!!!
Bush Sr. didn't finish off Saddam in '91 because the Democrats screamed bloody murder as we sat outside the gates of Baghdad.
And here we are 15 years later and those same Democrats are complaining that we should have finished the job the first time.
I do believe it takes a "majority" of liberals in congress to form a cognizant thought.
Haha, a liberal joke!
On top of this you are without a doubt a Bush hater. Nothing anyone in this administration does will be "good." You've already predetermined that. That I'm sure of.
"What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact."
Camden 5-28-06
Washington, D.C. 6-22-08
Agreed...Bush Sr. was actually a pretty decent president when it came to foreign affairs. His son on the other hand.... I think GW may have finally went to his father for some advice.
Incidentally, another interesting thing about Rummy's dismissal and Gates' appointment is the fact that Cheney apparently fought hard against both. Seems that GW is finally getting a clue that he can't lean on those he has in the past for advice.
Kind of like how the republicans claim that Clinton was too distracted with Lewinsky and neglected the terror threat when the republicans were to blame for the distraction.
In '93 the WTC was bombed.
Clinton did nothing.
In '93 18 soldiers were killed in Somalia.
Clinton responded by pulling out.
In '95 5 Americans killed and many more wounded by a car bombing in Saudi Arabia.
Clinton did nothing.
In '96 a USAF base was bombed in Saudi Arabia.
Clinton did nothing.
in '96 Saddam whiped out the Kurdish city of Erbil.
Clinton lobbed some bombs into the Iraqi desert.
In '98 US embassies in Keny and Tanzania were bombed.
Clinton did nothing.
yada yada yada...
The only thing Clinton was distracted from was being President of the United States. What's that line liberals are always shouting at me? "The governments job is to protect the citizens of this country!" Right...
Oh.. And his marital vows...
"What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact."
Camden 5-28-06
Washington, D.C. 6-22-08
Bush Sr. didn't finish the job, as you stated, back then because he realized what that would entail. He realized that we where there to get Iraq out of Kuwait and by going beyond that would have damaged the coalition he put together. Unlike Jr. Sr. understood what would happen to Iraq when Saddam fell and knew that it would take hundreds of thousands of troops and years to brink that country to any sense of normalcy. He knew that we wouldn't be greeted with flowers and candy.
How many tens or hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died since the invasion?
I'd like to protect the citizens of ANY country personally.
I'm nottrying to get into apissing match of who was betterClinton or Bush, becausein my opinion they both sucked, but how do you know Clinton did nothing. How do you know that Clinton didn't have the CIA working on this or other covert operations or is militray action the only way you see fit. The purpotrators of the 93 WTC bombing where apprehanded, tried, and convicted of their crime. That tome is doing something. Somalia I believe he did the right thing by pulling the troops out. They where involved in a situation they should have never been involved in. I can't say wether Clinton did or didn't do anything about the other attacks you mentioned because as I statedthere may have been operations underway that the public had no knowledge of.